Going to add (hoping I'm not wrong on this front when I heard it expressed before in passing convos):

If the silence is due to staffing/money issues (or maybe even health issues?)... I know there are volunteers in this very community willing to work with y'all in some way, whichever way, as VOLUNTEERS -- because we LOVE this site. Just... we need something to break this silence, this rift, that is here. I think the people left all sincerely love their woofers and want this project to succeed.

This site's comms have always been MASSIVELY disappointing, it's the thing they need to improve on the most. :/

Secondarily, sites like these live and die on relatively frequent, small updates-- like the valentines day rotation of little items that blew by without fanfare this year. Not every update needs to be massive, but the players need to KNOW and see that the devs care about the site, and that they are working on it behind the scenes at all.

I posed a question last year about marking releases and if they were always going to be tied to breed releases exclusively because we hadn't got any new ones since beta; I was assured that was not going to be the case, and yet despite there being a massive amount of even very simple, basic marking styles (as seen by people having to resort to CA to get new markings) that would add a huge flush of life to the breeding part of the game with even a handful of releases a year, we have had... only fawn release without a breed release (leopard came with Dires). Which is a lovely marking set, but that's really it? For a breeding sim?

Is there a problem caused by allowing CA markings? Are the devs concerned players will accuse them of copying their fan made markings, despite most of the natural ones just being from existing animals like our current sets? Do we need communication about this too?

Guilds are exciting and I'm glad they are being worked on, but people need more than one post a year about what the heck is even going on.

The lack of marking updates is a big red flag for me, breeds to a secondary degree. A year and a half into the game's release should have more than two new marking sets (plus Plain). Only having one new breed isn't as big of a deal imo; one breed per year is about as fast as I prefer, but I have a hard time being enthusiastic about breeding wolves because of the lack of variety. Letting the userbase take the brunt of apparel creation is whatever, although not ideal because of how limited CA stocking is, but you can't breed for markings made with apparel.

I want to humbly apologize to everyone here. I feel like my thread about leaving Lorwolf had created a domino effect within the remaining community. Seeing everyone here feel the same way I have felt for the past few weeks really opened my eyes to the whole situation. I need to get this off my chest... I don't feel comfortable on Lorwolf as a player anymore. The people who have commented on this thread already stated many reasons why I have come to this conclusion. Above all else, I feel like the users who have invested REAL MONEY into this place have not been properly compensated with new content for over 6 months. That is the biggest red flag to me, which is the very reason why I never paid for a premium membership myself. Keep in mind, I don't think the devs are purposefully scamming their community. However, the severe lack of communication from any of them actually scares me. Again, I'm sorry if my thread has shaken people up... I really don't like seeing wholesome communities like this crumble. I want nothing more than the internet to be a fun place again...

The lack of communication has been concerning. While I'm glad that at least the seasonal events are on time, it's clear that many are losing faith in this site. I think that at the very least, the Valentines items should have been re-released and it would have been nice to get a few recolors too.

And there's still not that much to do in regards to wolf customization. FR has so many genes and breeds (including ancients) and apparel and they just rolled out a new category of decoration entirely - the Effects. It's not too surprising that people are going to FR instead.

If I'm being honest, as a new player, it's been a little concerning. It was one of the first few things I noticed when I joined. I didn't want to think too deeply about it. I figured it was just a small site. Which would've been fine and expected. But I've mostly been in denial about it. The reality, looks a little more grim. I don't want to feel like I'm going to lose a place I just got invested in.

If the devs are suffering from something, be it bad health, financial problems, or any other complications, I don't think anyone's owed in-depth explanations. It isn't anyone's business, and people don't need to justify themselves if they're struggling. But we're owed a little honesty, at least. Even if that means putting it in plain terms, that the site won't be getting updates any more.

Adding another comment- I think Starcrow makes a really good suggestion with bringing another staff member on solely for communicating with the community. I know tons of people here (including me) would love to do a job like that, to break the silence.

I think the staff needs to do this or just work on making themselves communicate better.

Id love to do something like that!

Making/writing updates and communicating!

I paid real money on the Kickstarter page of this game and would gladly do mod/admin work for free if this wonderful game and community would continue on and not end up abandoned!

So yeah, i second everything said above!

@Alaunis @JimJim @Quiche

I haven't played the game in quite a while, but I figured I'd throw my two cents in.

Investing in any virtual petsite/sim is a gamble, but I took the chance on Lorwolf because it scratched an itch I hadn't been able to reach in a very long time. The team was initially very upfront about how many of Lorwolf's features (and art) were a first for the team, and while I think a lot of mistakes have been made along the way, I first want to say that I do think the dev team should be proud of what they have accomplished thus far with Lorwolf. To my knowledge, the scope of this project was unlike anything the dev team had worked on previously, and a lot of the QoL issues I have with the site are to be expected. I accepted from the beginning that Lorwolf would likely go through a lot of "growing pains," simply because it takes a lot more blood, sweat, and tears to run a functional petsim with a working economy than I think a lot of potential site owners realize. It requires more than pretty art and a decent programmer, and that's something I'm sure we've all witnessed time and time again in the broader petsim community.

I say all of this because I believe that Alaunis and JimJim went into this project with high hopes, and I genuinely worry that when the site wasn't all they dreamed it to be, with countless issues popping up from the moment it launched, they became discouraged and slowly lost the drive to push frequent updates to the site. If that's the case, then I want them both to know that while they can't bring back the people who have lost complete faith in the site's future, they can still win over the people who are still here--who are still commenting and wishing for the site's success.

I don't mind that the game is buggy, and I don't really mind that major updates take more time. I expect that, and I accept that. What has truly disappointed me, however, is the decline in communication. I hope everyone on the team is doing well, and while I don't need detailed information on anyone's personal lives, I do think it's important to remind the playerbase that you're still here and listening.

I'm just not sure that you are, and that's concerning. The weekly updates appear automated and are no excuse for the lack of communication, nor are the seasonal events in which users ask questions on the threads you post without ever receiving a direct answer. Suggestions go no where, and bugs continue cropping up with no acknowledgment in sight. Please understand that all the feedback you receive, while sometimes harsh, is given out of respect for what the site could be. It's not personal, and it never will be!

The severe lack of communication isn't professional, and I'd be more than happy to continue supporting Lorwolf if the dev team showed interest in learning and growing from their past mistakes. I'd be more than happy to continue supporting Lorwolf if the dev team were open, honest, and addressed all of our concerns directly and concisely without any sugar-coating or side-stepping around the blatant issues Lorwolf is facing.

Unfortunately, I'm just not sure that's going to happen, and I've just about run out of steam for fourth and fifth chances. It's hard to bring myself to log-on when it doesn't seem like the dev team logs on, either. Still, I sincerely hope the best for Lorwolf, and I hope I'm able to fall back in love with it one day.